


The Morning After The Night Before

by miera



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Happy Ending, Lack of Communication, Morning After, The Author Regrets Everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2015-03-11
Packaged: 2018-03-16 06:42:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3478244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miera/pseuds/miera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver wakes up alone after his first night with Felicity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Um, I'm sorry? I've been thinking we needed some fluff given how things are going on the show, but then this happened. Because these two never talk enough (really I blame dettiot and JulesInk and their stories where these two idiots never talk to each other and it keeps messing things up for influencing this) so why would they have a rational adult conversation before they sleep together? 
> 
> It'll be okay in the end, though.

Oliver knew from the light and the sounds that he was in the foundry, so his body didn't go on alert immediately after waking.

But something was different. Not bad different, though. His muscles ached but not in the usual way they would ache after a bad fight or too much training. He'd done something to his body, though, he was sure.

He breathed in and the scent on the sheets brought his memories flooding back. 

Felicity. 

She had kissed him last night. Not just a polite friendly peck, either, it was her arms around his neck, her tongue taking over his mouth, _we're going to need oxygen when this is over_ kind of kiss.

By the time he managed to pull back his hands were under her clothes and hers were under his and they were halfway to naked and practically humping against the med table. He had to stop, had to be sure where this was headed was what she wanted. Then she said it.

"Oliver. _Please_." 

Like he could deny her. Like he would refuse, ever, what she was offering.

The next couple of hours were a blur. Her bare legs wrapped around his back, heels digging into his ass. Just barely holding on to his self-control enough to carry her to the bed (the bed she bought for him, Christ, how many nights had he imagined her in it with him?) so that their first time wasn't fucking half-off the med table. The first time he saw her fully naked and lying beneath him. The frantic, almost clumsy coupling of their bodies the first round. His fingers wouldn't do what he wanted them to do and his dick had a mind of its own. He came _before her_ , for fuck's sake, like a horny teenager with no control. 

He had pressed kisses and apologies against her skin and shifted them so that his head was between her thighs, where he had dreamed of being so many times. Her legs slipped up over his shoulders as he devoured her for ages, lapping up her sweet taste and using his fingers and his mouth and every trick he knew to make her come again and again. He could still feel her nails digging into his scalp when she forced him to stop and let her breathe. 

Then it was just them, him moving inside of her, every slide in feeling like coming home for the first time in his life, her skin and her scent surrounding him as they made love like they were never going to stop. 

She was perfect. They were perfect. 

He rolled to his side, intending to wrap his arm around Felicity's body. That was the first indication that something was wrong.

The bed was cold and empty. 

Oliver opened his eyes.

The basement was as dark as it usually was. He was alone - and naked - in bed, and there was no sign of anyone else being there. The bathroom door stood open and empty.

Fuck, had he dreamed the whole thing?

He sat up. His clothes were strewn on the floor where he vaguely remembered tossing them. Only his clothes, though. Felicity's were nowhere to be seen, and her purse was not where she usually dropped it next to her chair. The bed sheets were rumpled, though, and he could smell Felicity's scent on his own skin and on the pillow, so he was pretty sure he hadn't just been dreaming. 

Alarmed, he got up and pulled his cargo pants on hastily. His watch said it was nearly 5am. Possibly she had left because she had to go to work? Or to get coffee? But why wouldn't she have woken him up?

He hadn't woken up, he realized. He couldn't sleep through the slightest disturbance most of the time but apparently having sex with Felicity rendered him unconscious enough that she could _climb out of his fucking bed_ without him noticing.

He scrubbed his hands over his face and tried to calm down. It was possible that she hadn't wanted to wake him out of some desire to let him rest. It would be a Felicity thing to do. 

He scanned the room several times, but there was no sign of a note from her, and his phone was silent with no messages waiting for him. She knew him well enough to know he barely slept. She would know that leaving without a note or any kind of message would freak him out. 

Unless that was the message. 

His heart constricted in his chest to the point of physical pain. 

No, he couldn't believe it. He could not believe that Felicity of all people would have... _fucked him and then snuck out while he was sleeping_. That was something he had done a hundred times, sure, in the old days, but Felicity? 

He forced himself to breathe and try to think logically. If something urgent had come up, some Arrow related business, she would have woken him. No one else had come in; Oliver was certain he would not have slept through that. She left on her own, not because she was summoned or taken. 

The most plausible explanation was that she had wanted to let him sleep and for some unknown reason hadn't left a message behind. So, fine, he had slept, but now he was awake and he needed answers.

He could wait and see if she returned. Bringing two cups of coffee and muffins and joking about how he only slept with her to get her to bring him coffee. If only. 

He pulled up her picture on this phone and hit "call." He paced back and forth next to his messy bed as the phone rang several times and then went to voice mail. He cursed and hung up without leaving a message.

Okay, so, maybe her phone was dead. Maybe she was in her car and couldn't answer. Maybe she was at home and in the shower. 

Maybe she was deliberately avoiding him. 

Fuck. He needed fucking answers, not more questions. He yanked on a shirt and his boots, grabbed his jacket and headed up the stairs.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity have the conversation they should have had the night before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK so some explanations are necessary here:
> 
> This is set vaguely post-S3. There's one small spoiler possibly related to 3x18 and Ray Palmer is no longer in Starling (cause he's got his own spin off, etc.), but there are no specific spoilers (I don't think "chaos, mayhem and suffering" count as a spoiler since EVERY SEASON ends that way, right?). It does play into the identity theme that's been building all season however. 
> 
> In true form, Oliver and Felicity have been holding in the same pattern they've been in since the end of 3x12 and have not talked about their feelings or relationship since then. So a lot has built up that exploded between them physically before they got to the talking part, which is this.

He drove recklessly, even for 5am, but it allowed Oliver to put his whole mind to the task of controlling the bike so he wouldn't have to think for a few minutes. 

He parked next to Felicity's building and hurried up the stairs, forcing himself to keep his speed to a steady jog. He hated that she lived in a building where the door was open to the outside so that anyone could get to her apartment, but at the moment it prevented him from having to pick a lock or worse.

He arrived at her door and for a second, his courage failed him. If she had left the way he feared, she didn't want to talk to him, and he was forcing the issue. The last time he did that, it didn't end well for them. 

But he had to know. 

He knocked. More loudly than he intended. 

No answer.

He waited a couple of minutes, tried again, but there was no sound coming from inside the apartment suggesting anyone was there. If she was inside, she wasn't moving. Or she was asleep. He really doubted she was sleeping right now.

Just to be sure, he climbed up her fire escape and peeked into her bedroom window, feeling like a complete lunatic the whole time, but he had to know. He could almost picture Digg's displeased face learning that Oliver had turned into a fucking Peeping Tom even if it was out of desperation. But it didn't seem to matter. The curtains were open and he could see that the bed was empty and still made. 

She wasn't here. 

Oliver dropped back to the ground, glancing around and hoping none of the neighbors was calling the police. There was a reason he did most of his skulking around buildings at night. 

He circled around the building and confirmed there was no sign of Felicity's car. So she wasn't at the foundry with him, wasn't at home. Had she just disappeared? She couldn't possibly have gone into the office already, could she? Whatever her feelings right now, she wouldn't go in to work in the same clothes she had worn the day before. The embarrassment would be too much.

Well, wherever she currently was, she'd have to come back home to change, so he sat down on the front step of the building to wait. That lasted for less than two minutes before a terrible thought struck him.

What if he'd been wrong and she had come back to the foundry? She could have needed coffee or food and simply run to get it, intending to return before he could wake up. His mind could picture her perfectly, coming down the stairs full of nerves, expecting to find him still in bed, only to find the basement empty...

She'd think he had run out on her.

He yanked his phone out of his pocket and hit dial, panic tightening his throat all over again, but it was unnecessary. He heard the hum of a car engine and looking up, he saw Felicity's car drive past the building and pull around to the parking area. 

He put the phone away and just stood there. She spotted him as she parked and she didn't look happy, making the knot inside him clench further. He didn't move as she climbed out of the car and walked slowly toward him. She looked exhausted and her arms were wrapped around her middle in a defensive posture that made his heart sink. 

She stopped a couple feet from him, avoiding meeting his eyes and despite the confusion swamping him, he asked the first question that came to mind. It was pretty much always the first thing in his thoughts where Felicity was concerned. "Are you okay?"

She nodded and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," she blurted out. "I know it was terrible, sneaking out like that."

Oliver swallowed. "So why did you do it?"

She shook her head. "I just... I woke up and I just couldn't handle hearing the speech again. Especially not after..." She trailed off, her cheeks turning pink and Oliver had a vivid flash of the same blush coloring her face and neck as she was riding him in his bed.

At the least he could be sure what had happened between them had affected her as much as it had him. "What speech?"

She waved a hand. "The 'I love you but I can't be with you because of reasons' speech." Oliver flinched and she grimaced. "I knew you were going to say it. Nothing's changed. Well obviously something's changed because we had sex last night. A lot of it. Especially in such a short time frame. My point," she closed her eyes tightly, forcing herself back on track. "I started things last night knowing that nothing had changed. I knew what I was getting into. I just couldn't listen to you tell me again." She shook her head, her fingers rubbing together nervously. "I wish I could say I didn't know what I was thinking, that it just happened, you know? I never understood why people would say that when it was such an obvious lie, but now I kind of envy them. It would be easier if I could lie to myself. Or to you. But I've never been able to lie to you." 

Oliver had about a million things he needed to tell her now but he wanted to know exactly what she had been thinking first. "So what's the truth? If you thought nothing had changed, why did you, you know..." _Jump me and rock my world for hours_ he thought but didn't say. His inner voice was starting to sound more and more like her. 

Her blush was back but she sighed. "The last few months have been... really hard." He wondered if she meant his brush with death, or hers. Probably both. Not to mention all the other catastrophes that had gone on.

And Ray leaving town, which was something Oliver tried not to think about much for fear of getting his hopes up. (He was better at lying to himself than Felicity was.)

"With everything that's happened, I guess my perspective on things has changed. I realized that maybe it's selfish of me to want everything only on my terms." They really, _really_ should have talked last night before the incredible sex, Oliver realized, not for the first time that morning. "Maybe its not fair to expect that. Maybe I'm denying myself things that I want for stupid reasons." 

Oliver couldn't stand it. He stepped forward and put his hands on her shoulders. "Hey. Look at me. You are not selfish, Felicity. You deserve to have everything you want without settling."

"Well I can't," she snapped, stepping back from him. "Because all I want is _you_. It's always you, Oliver. I tried to move on, I tried to get past it but I can't. Not now and maybe not ever. So what am I supposed to do?"

In spite of her obvious anger, relief hit him like a wave. She hadn't left because she didn't want to stay, she left because she wanted more than she thought he could give her. 

But for once in her life, Felicity was wrong.

A small smile crossed his face. "Stop trying? To get past it, I mean."

Felicity frowned. "You're joking right now? Seriously?"

"Nope. I'm completely serious." He took a deep breath. "I want you. I want to be with you."

She looked dubious. "But?"

"No buts." She just stared at him. Oliver had managed to render Felicity completely speechless. If so much wasn't riding on this moment he would've been tempted to drag out it for the novelty. "Felicity, you're not the only one whose perspective has been affected by the last couple of months." He closed his eyes for a moment and felt himself falling into cold darkness. He saw Felicity lying in a hospital bed. He saw too many people, friends, whose faces he would never see again. 

Her fingers touched his wrist, bringing him back to the present. Oliver opened his eyes and blew out a deep breath, looking down at her. "I can't put half of myself aside forever. And one thing I've learned in the last few months is that if I try to keep going that way, I'm going to lose Oliver Queen completely and just be the Arrow."

"I've mentioned how it weirds me out to hear you talk about yourself in the third person, right?" Felicity murmured, although she was completely focused on what he was saying.

"You and Digg have both made that point, yes." Her lips curved up just slightly and he felt his heart stutter in his chest at how beautiful she was, even with her eyes red and heavy from lack of sleep. He turned his hand to close his fingers around hers.

"There's never going to be a point where all the danger is over and all the bad guys are locked up and everything is perfect. And I can't save the city if I become something the city needs to be saved _from_. I have to find a balance somehow. And that means..." he quoted her own words back to her, "no more denying myself things I want for stupid reasons."

Felicity swallowed loudly enough that he heard it. "Oliver, what exactly are you saying?" He could feel how fast her heart was beating. His own was running at about the same speed.

He breathed in and laid it out for her. "I want to be with you. I want... everything. Whatever you'll give me. Whatever you're comfortable with. As long as we're together." 

His words were initially met with silence. He knew Felicity was processing what he was saying but he couldn't help the trembling that started to take hold. If she rejected him _now_? Especially after last night? He wasn't sure he could handle it. "If you need time, you can have it," he told her in desperation. "I know I've hurt you before, so whatever you need me to do to convince you I will do it. Just please give me a chance. Another chance. I'll do anything, Felicity."

Her fingers tightened around his and she licked her lips, cutting off his begging. "Oliver, you sound really sure about this, but if it's because of what happened last night-"

He cut her off. "It's not. I've felt this way for a while."

There was more than a little accusation in her face. "Really. And you didn't see fit to tell me?"

He shrugged uncomfortably. "I didn't know where things stood with you and Ray. And I had no right to ask you for anything. I didn't want to mess things up for you if you were still with him." 

"We're not... Ray and I are over." 

"Yeah I figured that out last night." Off her look he reached up and brushed a stray strand of hair away from her face. "You're not the type of person who cheats, Felicity. If you and Ray had still been a thing, you wouldn't have slept with me." The _you're not nearly good enough for her_ voice started up in his head but he pushed it aside as his fingers traced the line of her cheek. "And I wouldn't have made love to you last night if I hadn't changed my mind about us. I wouldn't do that to you. You deserve so much more than that." 

Her eyes were watering behind her glasses and he brushed her cheek with his thumb. He hated that he had made her cry. "Oliver," she whispered, shifting slightly closer to him. "I want to believe you. So much. You have no idea-"

"I think I do," he told her, his other hand going to her waist. "I know I'm asking a lot. Just promise me a chance. I know this won't be easy. I'm not good at this. I'm going to freak out and try to push you away and we're going to argue over things. But I swear, Felicity, I want this more than any-" 

She went up on her toes and pressed her lips against his, stopping his babbling. Oliver cradled her head with his hand, kissing her back as the fear and tension seeped out of his body. What he had said was true, things were not going to be easy for them, but for the moment, he had everything he wanted. 

The kiss slowly grew deep and then more and more frantic until Oliver's hands touched her ass and Felicity broke away from the kiss, pushing him back with her hands on his chest. "Oliver!" she hissed. "We're standing out on the street!"

He let her go but he grinned. "It's early. Nobody's going to see us."

Her phone chimed before she could retort and Felicity groaned, pulling it out and silencing it. "6 am. Time to get up for work. We should have waited until a Friday night, then I could nap a whole Saturday." She froze in embarrassment and her face flushed. "Not that I deliberately chose last night for any reason. Or that there was anything deliberate-"

Oliver brushed his lips against hers, silencing her in turn. "Take the day off. Neither of us slept much last night-" she poked him for that "-you should rest."

"I can't," she sighed. "I have a meeting at 11 that I've rescheduled twice. The department head is going to think I'm avoiding him." 

He slipped an arm around her waist, pulling her flush against his chest. "You can still go in late," he pointed out innocently.

Apparently him looking at Felicity innocently set off all her alarm bells. "And in the meantime I'd just sleep?" she asked knowingly.

Busted. He squeezed his hand against her hip. "Not quite. I was thinking I would go get breakfast for us. Then since you'll need to shower before you get dressed for work..." He let her fill in the rest on her own. 

"Gee, spend one night with you and you already think you can invade my shower time," Felicity said, smirking at him. 

He nuzzled her neck. "You deprived me of morning after cuddling," he said in her ear. "The shower is to make up for that." He couldn't have missed the shiver he got in response to that and he grinned, nibbling lightly on her ear for a moment before he pulled back. Felicity was looking at him curiously. "What?"

"I don't know. I guess I never pegged you for a cuddler." 

"Well there's a lot we don't know about each other yet, right?" He met her eyes and saw that she recognized the multiple layers of meaning in that sentence. She nodded and Oliver felt a smile practically erupt across his face, drawing an answering one from Felicity. 

But he let her go. "You want muffins or donuts?" he asked, backing away from her toward his bike. 

"Donuts. Chocolate with chocolate icing. And sprinkles. I'll get the coffee started." 

He fetched breakfast and returned in less than 15 minutes. The chocolate icing from Felicity's donut ended up on more than just her mouth, but it gave them an excuse to test out her shower thoroughly. 

And the following morning, being a Saturday, Oliver felt no guilt about keeping Felicity in bed with him until noon.


End file.
